RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS: MR. CHARLESTON PICKS UP THE TAB FOR STRANGERS

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Vance Combs and friends were greeted by a stranger when they dined recently at the old Russell Hotel restaurant in Charleston.

Combs described the stranger as an "affable man in a white hat."

"Upon learning that we were down from Cape for the day, he bade us welcome and invited us to return."

When Combs asked for the check, the waitress told him that the man in the white hat, Rick Reed of Charleston, had paid the bill.

Combs said Reed is "truly a Mr. Charleston."